Dex Romweber is nothing less than an icon of the American music underground. Pioneering the template for the stripped to-the-essentials guitar/drums duo format in the (should be) world famous psycho-surf-rockabilly-garage-punk combo Flat Duo Jets - so often emulated, so rarely duplicated - Dex continues his resurgence with the new album Is That You In The Blue? With sister Sara on drums, the DEX ROMWEBER DUO is a potent combo that'll get your leg twitching with the beat and your heart racing - and sometimes breaking - with the feral excitement of music. If it don't, you might want to consider turning in your "I Heart Rock n Roll" badge. Seriously.
In Dex, you have someone who burrows into the guts of American roots music with a uniquely alchemical mania; he's a man clearly bored with, or oblivious to, genre constraints. With a mix of originals and obscure nuggets from rock and roll's dusky back closets, the DRD romps through the sweaty cinder block studios of Memphis of the 50's, channels street corners on the wrong side of town with existential blues and instrumentals that'd find a home in a Tarantino spy flick.
For pure rock and roll at its most glorious, Dex, his vintage Silvertone guitar and Sara's wall of sound drums kick out the jams, mf'ers, on "Jungle Drums," the dragstrip rave-up "Gurdjieff Girl" and the soundtrack for your next knife fight at the juvey home "Climb Down." Bust out your hip flask and hand jive to heaven to that wicked Bobby Fuller beach party groove on "Wish you Would," or strut down the Rio strand to the buoyant Bossa Nova throw down "Brazil" - a classic that runs a sonic spark plug from Xavier Cugat to Tav Falco's Panther Burns.
Beyond the wild ruckus the Duo conjures so well, Is That You in the Blue?is colored by Dex's broken romantic trips to the deep tunnel of un-love. From the slinky, cinematic revenge noir of "The Death of Me," to the unhinged, edge of the abyss vibe of "Nowhere" to the jazzy, ghostly howl at the "Midnight Sun," he’s on a dark and sometimes vengeful ride he ain't taking alone. And the title track has as bitter and liberating a kiss off line that's ever been sung, the one we've all wished we could have come up with when she was walking out the door.
For Is That You In The Blue?, recorded at Southern Culture on the Skids Rick Miller's studio in North Carolina, DRD filled in their already formidable sound with Tarheel luminaries from the bands The Old Ceremony and Savage Knights, as well as Rick himself and fellow SCOTS Mary Huff. Since their last Bloodshot album, Ruins of Berlin (2009), the DRD recorded a 7" single of hillbilly folk-blues with Jack White as well as a live album recorded at his Third Man record store in Nashville.
